Was Mormon Founder Joseph Smith a Closet Hippy?

Not long ago, an extraordinary PDF was given to me by a potential client. Called The Restoration and the Sacred Mushroom, its subtitle asks the question: "Did Joseph Smith Use Psychedelic Substances to Facilitate Visionary Experiences?" Had it been less well written and well researched, I may have written it off as someone's hallucinatory interpretation of the Book of Mormon. It was not.

The paper begins by exploring the biggest mystery of the early Mormon faith. As the author, Robert T. Beckstead M.D., writes:

Between 1830 and 1836, under the supervision of Joseph Smith, many early Mormon converts enjoyed heavenly visions and spiritual raptures. However, after Joseph’s death in 1844, the great visionary period of Church history came to an end.

Why did it come to an end? Dr. Beckstead contends that it is because Joseph Smith added available hallucinogenic substances to the sacramental wine used in his services. He begins by arguing that hallucinogens, or entheogens as they are called when used in religious ceremonies, have been used for millennia to facilitate spiritual awakening and visionary experience. This was not news to me, so I skimmed that part of the document. My ignorance of the Mormon faith and the life and teaching of Joseph Smith is virtually absolute and I had ignorantly written him off as a gifted charlatan. I wanted to get to the good stuff.

The picture of Joseph Smith that emerged in my mind as I continued to read was that of an idealistic young man seeking truth. As many of us did in the sixties, he was confused and disturbed by all the conflicting beliefs amongst the religious denominations of his time. As he wrote later in life: "So great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was [ … ] to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong".

As we did, he sought direct experience of God through psychedelics. But how? Timothy Leary wasn't around in the 1820s, nor was LSD. No, but Native Americans were and so were African American "root doctors." The young Joseph Smith became acquainted with one of these root doctors, Black Pete. Black Pete eventually became an early convert and was present throughout the visionary period of Smith's ministry.

It could be argued that this is entirely speculative, but the evidence continued to mount as I read further. Even at the time, observers accused Smith of legerdermaine, the "psychology, misdirection and natural choreography in accomplishing a magical effect" and attempted to steal some of the sacramental wine in order to analyse it.

The author speculates that in some of the early rituals, Datura was the hallucinogen used in the services. However, it seems likely that Smith also used Amanita Muscara. His early visions and revelations were more in keeping with the sacred mushroom experience than with the often less than sublime effects of Datura.

Even more interesting to me was the strong evidence that Smith participated in peyote ceremonies with Amer-Indian traders. The author provides a map showing the trading route from the Southwestern regions where peyote grows and was (and still is) used ceremonially to the Northeastern region where Smith lived and preached. He also kept a "seer stone" in his possession that looked exactly like a peyote button.

The clincher for me was the revelation that Joseph Smith's grandson, Frederick Smith, President of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, openly participated in peyote ceremonies as early as 1913 and advocated their use.

So, what's the meaning of all this? I can't help but wonder how different American history may have turned out if Joseph Smith had shared his secret with his followers before his death. Maybe nothing would have come of it, since nothing seems to have come of his grandson's advocacy of its use. This isn't to say I think we should go back to dropping acid like candy as was done in the sixties. In fact, now that I'm in my crusty "sixties" phase of life, I partially blame my generation for bringing entheogens into disrepute. During the fifties, academics and scientific researchers, the high priests of our culture, were experimenting with them in a more controlled manner and perhaps had that continued, their use could have trickled down to mainstream America and we would have the "Age of Aquarius" we dreamed of back in the sixties. Then again, perhaps not.

The Seer Stone image that accompanies this article was taken from The Restoration and the Sacred Mushroom. You can purchase the PDF for two dollars from Sunstone Magazine (this is not an advertorial - I don't get a commission). For more information about this and other subjects related to consciousness, please visit my website, A Cookbook of Consciousness.